Opinion piece by MARP member and  East/Central Michigan Chair Tim Fischer appearing in the Lansing State Journal:
http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/article/20100422/OPINION02/4220324/-1/*/Fischer–Rail-investments-will-help-our-planet

Forty years ago, Americans celebrated the first Earth Day. New and startling images of our planet from space provided a unique perspective of our place in the universe and our role as stewards of this small speck of interstellar real estate.

There’s no magic silver bullet that will meet this challenge. Instead, we need multiple layers of solutions to dilemmas including our dependence on diminishing coal and oil reserves, global scarcities of fresh water, and increasing output of climate change pollution that threatens the futures of our children’s children.

In Michigan, we have ample opportunities to lead the nation and the world to a more sustainable future with burgeoning solutions including energy efficiency, renewable power and water conservation among others.

One of the most attainable, powerful solutions is both within our grasp and uniquely tailored to a state that has led the world in transportation solutions.

We need to move aggressively toward a high-speed railroad transportation system that connects our cities and towns, gets travelers quickly to their destinations, and moves cargo efficiently.

Our crumbling highway infrastructure, expensive road expansion appetite and congested streets are testimony to the need to move into a new era of transportation. This shift can drive the state’s moribund economy to new heights, reduce our dangerous reliance on fossil fuels and provide a transition to a bright new future that will help Michigan recapture some of the 900,000 auto industry jobs lost during recent years.

The groundwork has been laid.

Projects funded with federal high speed rail stimulus money that will make Michigan’s trains run consistently on time and faster begin in a few weeks. Gov. Jennifer Granholm has proposed a transportation budget that fully funds Michigan’s passenger rail program for the next fiscal year. The Legislature must approve it.

The state transportation department has begun work on the state rail plan. Tell them where Michigan’s passenger trains should travel.

Trains are more than just a convenient way to travel or move cargo. Trains contribute less pollution per mile than either cars or airplanes. Federal data show train travel is almost 20 percent more efficient than domestic airline travel and 28 percent more efficient than auto travel on a per-mile basis.

And freight trains are responsible for six to 12 times less pollution than trucks.

Numerous studies show huge economic benefits to towns and cities where train stations serve as magnets for travelers. For example, the East Lansing train station – a slightly improved warehouse in a difficult to access location – has an economic benefit for the area of about $3.5 million, according to a recent MDOT analysis (based on 2007 data).

Earth Day idealism, circa 2010, need not be some pie-in-the-sky utopian vision. It can be nuts-and-bolts jobs, efficient transport and pollution-slashing changes in the way we move people and products through the Great Lakes State.